System's Twilight design notes from 1994

Monday, August 14, 2017

Comments: 1   (latest 2 hours later)

Tagged: nostalgia, system's twilight, notes, puzzles, design, interactive fiction, eclipses, if

On May 10, 1994, my friends and I bundled ourselves into a car and drove from Pittsburgh up to Lake Erie. I forget exactly what town we stopped in. But we stopped there, got out of the car, put on our eclipse glasses, and watched the annular eclipse of 1994. It was fantastic. We got the little leaf-shadow rings and everything.

Why do I mention this? Because (if I recall correctly) after we got home, I bundled up the first playable beta of System's Twilight and send it off to playtesters.

A week from today is the total eclipse of 2017. I'll be heading to Kansas City, unless travel disasters ensue -- which they might! But that makes it an apposite week for this bit of history:

All my design notes for System's Twilight! I've had the folder on my shelf all this time; I just sat down and scanned the pages.

If you played the game way back when, you will find these pages amusing, or at least laden with twisty nostalgia. If you haven't played the game, the notes will be incomprehensible. Either way, enjoy!


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